9.07.2018

Hope all is well and that you're having an enjoyable summer - or what's left of it. This summer has not been without incidents - and unfortunately some losses that have hit us at the core of our hearts - most recently the transitions of Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin and the Emperor of African music, Dr. Randy Weston. We are still coping with our grief. However, we cannot afford these occurrences, as painful as they were, to distract us from focusing on something that will be infinitely more painful and detrimental to us all - as Black people in particular, and as Americans as a whole. As reprehensible as he is, 45 is now trying to replicate his incompetence and mendacity by having a minion from the Bushwacker era as a new injustice of the Subprime court. And while we watch the train wreck that passes for a confirmation hearing, we cannot afford to sit idly by and let this happen. WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES must make our feelings known!!! NOWTo that end, I'm re-posting an article from MoveOn - Please read it, act on it, share it - and take it to the next level.

STOP KAVANAUGH NOW

STOP KAVANAUGH!!!

From: Ben Wikler

Dear MoveOn member,

This is Ben Wikler, MoveOn's Washington, D.C., director.

I'm writing from Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings, and the energy here is unprecedented.

The Democrats are bringing the fight.Now it's urgent that we turn up the heat outside—because when we fight, we win.
And now, The New York Times reports that, "As a White House
lawyer in the Bush administration, Judge Brett Kavanaugh challenged the
accuracy of deeming the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision to be 'settled law of the land.'"1

This bombshell could change everything, but only if we ratchet up the pressure now.
To win, we need two Republicans to vote no—the two who voted no on
Trumpcare last year. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine could be
the key decisive vote in this fight, which is why are investing heavily
in on the ground tactics in Maine right now. And we are also working
around the clock to convince Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who voted
no on Trumpcare, to vote no on Kavanaugh.

I've seen past Supreme Court confirmation hearings, and this is not how things usually go.Republicans are racing through this confirmation, because they are
scared the longer it lasts, the more likely they won't have the votes.
They could well be bluffing when they say they have the votes already,
especially as these new revelations come to light.

To stop Kavanaugh, we need to show Collins and Murkowski that this is no ordinary Supreme Court confirmation.
On the first day of Kavanaugh’s hearing, 70 brave protestors were
arrested. Senate Democrats are livid about the 42,000 pages of documents
that were dumped on the committee just hours before the hearings began
and spoke out fiercely—energy that they've carried into their
questioning of Kavanaugh through the second day.

On the second day, with allies, we organized an inspiring
demonstration in Washington, D.C., where activist after activist vowed
to fight this nomination to the end. And today, Democrats are putting
damning new information into the public record—despite Republicans'
insistence that documents remain "committee confidential."

We have to act with the same ferocity and determination of the brave protesters here in Washington.And we have to act quickly.

Call your senators and tell them to stop Kava-nah!!!

We're hearing that Republican Senator Collins could make a decision
this weekend. Just as on the Affordable Care Act, we need to convince
her to do the right thing. Or to at least delay making a decision.

Every delay in this fight is a step closer to victory. The longer we
have for the truth about Kavanaugh to come out, the more we can organize
and the better our odds of success. That's how we won the fight to stop
Trumpcare last year, and it's how we will win this fight. That's why
I'm asking:

Brett Kavanaugh has refused to say whether President Trump can pardon
himself or be subpoenaed, claiming that he's never thought about it and
that these are "hypothetical questions"—despite the fact that Trump
himself has claimed that he has the power to pardon himself while he's
currently under investigation.2 He won't even discuss whom he has spoken with about the Mueller investigation.
He said the courts should strike down net neutrality.3 He refused to say he'd uphold Roe v. Wade.4
When the grieving father of a 14-year-old Parkland shooting victim tried to shake his hand, he turned his back on him.5

And now, news has broken that he doesn't believe that Roe v. Wade is settled law—even though he told Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski otherwise.6

In short, this hearing is not going well for Kavanaugh at all.

But we need to keep the pressure on—and that means making sure key
senators of both parties understand that the public thinks this is a
sham, partisan process, and that we want a court that will uphold our
rights, not attack our communities. This is the case we're making around
the country—and with a new surge of activity in Maine and other key
states that could make the difference. And we must act quickly, BEFORE
Senators Collins and Murkowski announce their positions, and it's too
late to win.

MoveOn isn't just rallying. In the first 24 hours of Kavanaugh's
hearings alone, MoveOn members made over 10,000 calls to the U.S.
Senate.

To turn up the heat, MoveOn's Video Lab team is creating powerful ads
with the voices of real people who would be hurt. Over the next several
days, we're supporting actions in Alaska and Maine, where Senators
Collins and Murkowski will cast two of the deciding votes on Kavanaugh's
confirmation. We're looking at opportunities to buy ads in Maine's
biggest newspaper. We're even working with Mainers who have voted for
Collins in the past but feel a vote for Kavanaugh would be a
betrayal—elevating their voices across the state.

The stakes in this fight are so high, but I have hope because of the
Resistance energy I’m seeing here and the way it’s affecting the
senators whose votes will decide the outcome. We won on Trumpcare, and
we have a real chance of winning again.

Will you chip in $3 to help turn the pressure up even higher and stop Kavanaugh?

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work
every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda,
contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of
swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind
of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your
support, now more than ever.